BART chief’s how-to-help memo

With questions lingering about his department’s impartiality in the New Year’s Day police shooting of Oscar Grant, BART Police Chief Gary Gee is certainly is staying loyal to his troops.

This week, the chief issued a “stay strong” letter to the department’s rank and file, along with information on how to send care packages to jailed former Officer Johannes Mehserle.

The one-page message from Gee, along with BART police Cmdr. Travis Gibson, opens with instructions “for anyone wishing to purchase food items or deposit money” into Mehserle’s account, while the officer remains locked up on murder charges at Santa Rita Jail.

The memo also provides information on how to send mail and books to Mehserle.

It then delivers a hats off to the troops for their hard work and for continuing “to maintain your professionalism and integrity, despite being exposed to public abuse and the media’s reporting” of the fatal shooting of the unarmed Grant.

“You have our full support,” Gee and his commander write, promising to make the rounds to the troops in the field as soon as the dust settles. “Together, we will weather this storm,” they write.

BART spokesman Linton Johnson said the memo was in no way was meant to reflect any opinion of the criminal case against Mehserle or the internal affairs probe of other officers at Fruitvale Station in Oakland when Grant was shot.

On Thursday, BART announced it was handing off the internal affairs probe to an independent third party, yet to be named.

“Admittedly, this may not have been the best way to put the information out,” Johnson said of Gee’s memo. “But the intent was to commend the rank and file for doing an exemplary job in the face of all that was going on.”

Johnson also said the brass had been responding to officers’ queries about what they could do for Mehserle while he was in jail.

He emphasized that any money being offered up was for incidentals and “not for (Mehserle”s) legal defense or to support his family.”